Plating-barrel.



F. S. CHASE & J. H. GRAHAM.

PLATING BARREL.

APPLICATION r1150 Aue.10,1911.

1.1!. 315.66% Patented Apr. 13, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

F. S. CHASE & J. H. GRAHAM.

PLATING BARREL.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 10. 1911.

Lmmwm Patented M1113, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

I QW.

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GRAHAM.

PLATING BARREL.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 10. 1911.

Patented Apr. 13, 1915.

3 SHEETBSHEET 3.

1.135MEHU.

FRANK S. CHASE AND 'J'AMES H. GRAHAM, 01F TORRINGTON, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNORS TO THE STANDARD COMPANY, OF TORRINGTON, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION or CONNECTICUT.

PLATING-JBARREL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' PatentedApr. I3, rain.

Application filed. August 10, 1911. Serial No. 643,347.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRANK S. CHASE and JAMES H. GRAHAM, citizens of the United States, residin at Torrington, in the county of Litchfiel State of Connect1 out, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Plating-Barrels, of which the following is a description, reference be ing had to the accompanying drawing andto the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

Our invention relates to improvements in electro-plating tanks, or as they are usually called, plating barrels, such as are employed in the art of plating small metallic articles by means of electricity, a rotatable tank or barrel being employed in which the articles are submerged and continuously moved or tumbled'while in the process of being plated.

Ive are aware that it has heretofore been proposed to use an open-ended rotatable barrel arranged on an inclined axis, with anodes and cathodes therein; also that it has been proposed to use a receptacle for the plating liquid with a revolving cage or basket as a container for the articles to be plated. In the use of the former device, the

barrel must be kept tilted, .otherwise the fluid will run out, and when so tilted, the fluid occupies only a comparatively small portion of the barrel, and that too of irreg ular depth, being deep at the closed end of the barrel, and of no depth'at the other end, so that only a portion of the fluid at anyone time is available for use, only. one

anode and'one cathode can be used, and

only a very few articles be immersed for plating at any one time. Furthermore, to remove the articles the fluid and the articles must be dumped.

In the use of an apparatus having a rotatable container, the mechanism isquite complex,- either requiring the opening of the barrel and the removal of the container, or the opening of the barrel to gain access to the container, and besides more or less.

- complicated operating mechanism is re- 'quired.

The object of the present invention is to provide a durable apparatus, with simple supporting and operating-apparatus which can hold a maximum amount of plating fluid, and articles to be plated, in which a number of anodes and cathodes may be used, from which the articles when plated anode, so formed that the extra wear on certain parts thereof will be compensated for and practically the entire anode be used,

instead of as now the case, being compelled to throw away a portion of the anode, because one part wears away before the other.

The invention, therefore, consists in the matters hereinafter described and referred to in the appended claims.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Flgure 1 is a side elevation of a plating tank or barrel and its operating mechanism, constructed in accordance with our invention; Fig.- 2 is an end view in section; Fig. 31s a perspective view, showing the means for supporting the anodes and cathodes; Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of a portlon of the barrel with the hand hole plate; and Fig. 5 isa detail view of the anode.

In these drawings, 1 is a supporting framework, havlng suitable base supports 2. At one end of the framework project upwardly posts 3 and 4, carrying journals for a shaft 5, driven by belt 6 and pulley 7. This shaft carries speed reducing mechanism, and a clutch mechanism, whereby the barrel 8 may be thrown into and out of rotation and the proper slow speed be glven thereto. Projecting upward from the framework are brackets 01 uprights 9, four in number, carrying between the two arms of each the axle of flanged wheels 10, upon which rest the metal tracks or hoops 11, at each end of the barrel, marked 12. As the barrel is rotated by the mechanism above described, it rolls on these flanged wheels, thus giving the necessary tumbling action to the articles contained therein.

The upright or post l lat one end of the framework is shown in detail in Fig. 3. It is formed with a recessed block 15 on its upper end, and secured to this by bolts 16 is a similar block 17, there being clamped in the recess between the blocks a wooden or other insulation block 18, through which the anode and cathode supporting rods pass. Electric leading-in wires 19 come from. above, and are secured by binding posts 20, as shown in Fig. 3. The cathode support ing rod is marked 21, and the anode supporting rod 22; these pass through an opening inthe end of the barrel, the cathode suptld porting rodbeing bent out of parallelism with the anode supporting rod to allow the cathode chains 23 to assume the proper position with respect to the anodes, and to get the proper sweep as the barrel rotates. 'lhe anodes are represented by the numeral 25, and are hung from the supporting rod 22 in the manner shown.

The anodes 25 are ofespecial construction, having the shank 26 set as shown in Fig. 2, and the anode toward one end of less vertical thickness than the portion of the anode on the opposite side of the shank. By oifsetting the shank and making one end of the anode thicker than the other end and properly proportioned, as shown, provision is made for the more rapid disintegration of one end of the anode than the other, without destroying one portion of the anode before the other is destroyed, thus preventing waste and enabling substantially the wholeof an anode to be utilized.

Another feature of our invention relates to the construction of the hand hole plate,

as shown best in Figs. 1 and 4. 27 is the inner wooden plate fitting-the opening in the side of the barrel, and secured to the outer plate 28 by screws 29, a gasket 29 being interposed between the two plates, the outer plate and gasket being wider than the inner plate and resting'on the shoulders 30 of theadjacent sections of the barrel. plate 28 is externally ribbed, as at 31. Resting on this rib are two bars 32, slotted as 'at 33 to receive the bolts 34, which at their inner ends are screwed into the keepers 35 in the barrel. Hand wheels 36 pass through these bars, and by hearing against the plate "28 tighten the entire hand hole plate. To remove the hand hole'plaite, the hand wheel 36 is loosened, the bars 32 removed by disengagement of their slots from i the bolts. When the hand hole plate has been put in pressure, turning of the hand wheel 36 tightens the joint and prevents all leakage.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The

1. In an electro-plating device, the comblnation with a rotatable tank arranged on a hor zontal axis, conducting rods, said tank having an opening in one end thereof, and' means for supporting said conducting rods whereby the same may extend through said opening into said tank, said supporting means for the rods including an insulating block, anodes supported by one of said rods and cathodes suspended from said other rod.

2. In an electro-plating device, the combination with a barrel or tank, and means for rotating it, a framework on which the barrel is supported and rotated, a standard projecting upwardly from said framework adjacent to one end of said barrel having a recessed block, a similar block secured thereto, and an insulation block clam ed in said recess between said first named locks and electrode-su porting rods, carried by said insulation lock, and extending into said barrel.

3. In an electro-plating device, the combination with a barrel or tank, and means for rotating it, a framework on which the barrel is supported and rotated, a standard projecting upwardly from said framework adjacent to one end of said barrel, an insulation block clamped thereto, and electrodesupp'orting rods, carried by said insulation block and extending into said barrel, standards at the opposite end of the framework,

a shaft supported thereon, and means for FRANK S. CHASE. JAMES H. GRAHAM.

Witnesses:

CHARLES M. Humane, MARY A. OMEARA. 

